3 Ways to Stay Organized on the Go
As a small business owner, you’ve got a billion things to do, a million places to be and only one You.
Unfortunately, keeping all your ducks in a row as you go about your workday may be about as easy as literally keeping ducks in a row.
If your job has you in the driver’s seat more often than your office desk chair, check out these helpful tips for staying organized wherever you are:
1. Map out how you’ll move
Thinking geographically about where work will take you on any given day could vastly improve or hinder how organized you are. Before you embark, consult your calendar and plot out the best order in which to carry out your tasks, paying close attention to where these different meetings or supply runs are in relation to one another.
Remember what you learned in geometry class all those years ago: The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Point A is the beginning of your day, Point B the end. Feel free to play around with directional apps like Google™ Maps or Waze to find a sequence that makes the most sense and saves you from wasting your precious time behind the wheel.
2. Digitize as much as possible
Paper may be the medium of choice for traditional small businesses owners in a controlled office setting, but out in the real world, tipped-over coffee cups and strong gusts of wind lurk around every corner, waiting to ruin your one-and-only set of hard copies.
Alternately, when you store important paperwork in the cloud, you can access it from any number of Internet-connected devices. Going digital can be especially helpful if you’re headed to your local printer for professionally bound presentation materials or small business signage. Just be sure your favorite printing services –– especially their self-service equipment –– are as cloud-connected as you are.
Also, if you’re in a time crunch, check if your local print provider offers same-day printing services, whether you need business cards, posters for an upcoming promotion or anything else.
3. Tune up your mobile tech
Small business mobility wouldn’t exist without laptops, smartphones and tablets. But after months or years of devoted service, is your mobile technology underperforming and a little worse for wear?
You’re not alone –– a study commissioned by Motorola found 3 out of every 10 smartphone owners in the U.S. currently contend with a broken touch screen. At the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, a poll conducted by Fortune and SurveyMonkey revealed people are more excited about “improved battery life” for their smartphones than wearables and 4K televisions.
After all, how can you expect to stay on top of your digital calendars and to-do lists if your mobile device regularly runs out of juice far too soon? Leave the cumbersome car charger at home and instead try these power conservation hacks:
- Disable 3G/4G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth® whenever they’re not immediately necessary.
- Lower screen brightness and keep screen time-outs short.
- Reduce the number and frequency of push notifications you receive.
If these tricks fail to prolong the life of your smartphone or tablet in any substantial way, you may need a technology specialist to check “under the hood” and replace burned-out batteries or charge ports. Staples® Tech Services can do both, as well as replace cracked screens, remove viruses from laptops and more.